Evaluation of the Water Quality of the Tigris River South of Mosul Using the National Foundation for Health's Water Quality Index NSF-WQI
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study assessed water quality in the Tigris River, specifically in the southern region of Mosul, using the Water Quality Index (WQI) developed by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) in the United States. Four key monitoring sites were selected along the river course—ranging from Hammam Al-Alil in the north to Al-Qayyarah in the south—and water samples were collected monthly from February 2024 through January 2025. The evaluation involved a comprehensive analysis of physical, chemical, and bacteriological indicators, including water temperature (°C), pH level, total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity (NTU), dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand over five days (BOD₅), nitrate (NO₃⁻), phosphate (PO₄³⁻), and fecal coliform concentrations (CFU/100 mL).
The WQI values at the four sites were 73.34 at Hammam Al-Alil, 75.11 at Al-Safina, 76.99 at Al-Houd, and 73.93 at Al-Qayyarah. According to the NSF classification scale, these values correspond to category B, indicating that water quality at all sampled sites is “good.”
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Tikrit Journal of Pure Science is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which allows users to copy, create extracts, abstracts, and new works from the article, alter and revise the article, and make commercial use of the article (including reuse and/or resale of the article by commercial entities), provided the user gives appropriate credit (with a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI), provides a link to the license, indicates if changes were made, and the licensor is not represented as endorsing the use made of the work. The authors hold the copyright for their published work on the Tikrit J. Pure Sci. website, while Tikrit J. Pure Sci. is responsible for appreciate citation of their work, which is released under CC-BY-4.0, enabling the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction of an article in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.
References
1. Hamahsaeed MA. Using Heavy Metals Pollution Index (HPI) and Metal Index (MI) for Assessing quality of drinking water in Bardarash-Akre basin in Duhok governorate northern Iraq. Tikrit Journal of Pure Science. 2024;29(2). https://doi.org/10.25130/tjps.v29i2.1592
2. Fathi E, Zamani-Ahmadmahmoodi R, Zare-Bidaki R. Water quality evaluation using water quality index and multivariate methods, Beheshtabad River, Iran. Applied Water Science. 2018;8(7):210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-018-0859-7
3. Seager J. Developments in water quality standards and classification schemes in England and Wales. Water Science and Technology. 1994;30(10):11.
4. Abdullah M, Al-Ansari N, Laue J. Water harvesting in Iraq: status and opportunities. Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering. 2020;10(1):199-217.
5. Gunnarsdottir MJ, Gardarsson SM, Figueras MJ, Puigdomènech C, Juárez R, Saucedo G, et al. Water safety plan enhancements with improved drinking water quality detection techniques. Science of the total environment. 2020;698:134185.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134185
6. Fadipe O, Oladepo K. Temporal variation of groundwater resources in Ilesa West Local Government, Osun State Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Technology. 2020;39(1):315-24.
7. Rahman S, Murshed HM. Application of electrolyzed water on livestock. Electrolyzed Water in Food: Fundamentals and Applications. 2019:205-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3807-68
8. Alghamdi A, Aly A, Aldhumri S, Al-Barakaha F. Hydrochemical and quality assessment of groundwater resources in Al-Madinah City, Western Saudi Arabia. Sustainability 12: 3106. 2020. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12083106
9. Akharame M, Obianke O. Utilising the national sanitation foundation water quality index for assessing the water quality status of Eruvbi River in Benin City, Nigeria. Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management. 2024;28(7):1999-2007. https://www.bioline.org.br/ja
10. Uddin MG, Nash S, Olbert AI. A review of water quality index models and their use for assessing surface water quality. Ecological Indicators. 2021;122:107218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107218
11. Chabuk A, Al-Madhlom Q, Al-Maliki A, Al-Ansari N, Hussain HM, Laue J. Water quality assessment along Tigris River (Iraq) using water quality index (WQI) and GIS software. Arabian Journal of Geosciences. 2020;13:1-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-05575-5
12. Al-Sanjari A, Al-Qattan A. Evaluation of water quality and its suitability for irrigation of agricultural lands in the Lower Zab River, northern Iraq. Iraqi Journal of Science. 2015;56(3B):2187.
13. Saeed M. Qualitative evaluation of Dajma River water in Mosul city using weighted mathematical models. Mosul: University of Mosul, Environmental Sciences; 2022.
14. APHA, AWWA, WPCF. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. rd e, editor. Washington DC: American Public Health Association; 2017.
15. Kamali Maskooni E, Naseri-Rad M, Berndtsson R, Nakagawa K. Use of heavy metal content and modified water quality index to assess groundwater quality in a semiarid area. Water. 2020;12(4):1115. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12041115
16. Javid A, Yaghmaeian K, Abbasi E, Roudbari A. An evaluation of water quality from Mojen River using the NSFWQI index. Journal of ecological engineering. 2014;15(4):1-6.
https://doi.org/10.12911/22998993.1125451
17. Sayadi M, Ghaleno OR. Study of water quality using the NSFWQI in the year 2014 case study: Chahnimeh reservoir of Sistan. Int J Chem Stud. 2016;4(3):35-7.
18. Ebuete A, Bariweni P. Water Quality Index of Kolo Creek, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management. 2019;23(11):1923-7. https://doi.org/10.4314/jasem.v23i11.3
19. Isiyaka HA, Mustapha A, Juahir H, Phil-Eze P. Water quality modelling using artificial neural network and multivariate statistical techniques. Modeling Earth Systems and Environment. 2019;5:583-93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-018-0551-9
20. Al-Hamdani O. Pollution of Tigris River Water between the Source and the End User in Mosul City. Mosul: College of Environmental Sciences, University of Mosul; 2022.
21. Mawat MM, Alattar AM, Mohamed AN, Odah JF. Characterizations of Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles Synthesized from Fishbone Using the Calcination and Grinding Method: Structural and Mechanical Analysis. MINAR 11. 2024:28. http://dx.doi.org/10.47832/MinarCongress11-3
22. Al-Bahathy IA, Al-Janabi ZZ, Al-Ani RR, Maktoof AA. Application of the water quality and water pollution indexes for assessing changes in water quality of the Tigris River in the South part of Iraq. Ecological Engineering & Environmental Technology. 2023;24.
http://dx.doi.org/10.12912/27197050/165901
23. Ewaid SH. Water quality evaluation of Al-Gharraf river by two water quality indices. Applied Water Science. 2017;7(7):3759-65.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-016-0523-z
24. Al-Mayah WT, Al-Mayyahi SOM, Al-Shammary SH, editors. Water quality assessment in terms of water quality index (WQI): A case study of the Tigris River, Baghdad, Iraq. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science; 2021: IOP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/779/1/012078
25. Al-Kubaisi M, Al-Sumaidai SK. Evaluation of the Suitability of the Euphrates River water for Drinking and Irrigation purposes in Haditha City, Western Iraq. Tikrit Journal of Pure Science. 2022;27(6):51. http://tjps.tu.edu.iq/index.php/tjps
26. Al-Saffawi A-AY, Al-Maathi AT. The quality evaluation of Wady Eqab wastewater in north of Mosul city for Irrigation. Tikrit Journal of Pure Science. 2017;22(12):14-20.